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Why software translation is a waste of time
Disclaimer: I am not a professional software developer, and my opinion might not be as authoritative as yours. My native language is not English and since my first encounter with computers I have used multiple localized and non-localized computer programs. All these years of "user experience" have led me to …
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Unit testing in Power Query M Language
As your code base gets bigger, test automation becomes more and more important. This applies to any development platform, including Power Query / PowerBI. If you reuse your code and improve some low level function later, test automation allows you to make sure your changes did not break anything that depends …
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Getting started with LibPQ
This is a step by step guide to getting started with LibPQ, an illustrated version of "Installation and usage" section of the official documentation. Installation LibPQ source code The source code of the library has to be present in each workbook that uses it. Create a new blank query: Data …
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Roads and Bridges - sustaining modern digital infrastructure
This week I have stumbled upon a very thorough review of existing problems and hidden costs of sustaining modern (open source) digital infrastructure. Here it is: Roads and Bridges - The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure by Nadia Eghbal. The essay was created with support from the Ford Foundation and …
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Expanding Power Query standard library - introducing LibPQ
Power Query formula language (also known as M language) is a very capable yet not very flexible tool. It lacks some features taken for granted by developers who are used to other programming languages such as compatibility with version control systems, extensibility by third-party libraries, etc. That is why I …
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Loops in Power Query M language
Power Query Formula Language (also known as M language) is sometimes difficult to get your head around. This article explains how someone familiar with loops in other programming languages can approach the same concept in M language. First of all let's look at the definition given by Microsoft: The Power …
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Temporary virtual environment for Python
Using Python on Windows does not come as naturally as on Unix-like systems, so any help is appreciated. I wrote a batch script to automate creation, setup and deletion of Python virtual environment. This can come in handy when you want to test something in a clean env, or to …
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Execute the same git subcommand in all local repositories
If you work with more than one git project simultaneously, you often need to do the same maintenance tasks in each cloned repository: check if there are some changes waiting to be pushed, check remote URLs for all repos (e.g. when considering to switch from HTTPS authentication with GitHub …
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Portable development setup for Python on Windows
WinPython https://winpython.github.io/ All-in-one distribution which comes with many difficult-to-build packages preinstalled. And their ...-Zero version is great for thumb drives! Pip works just fine, but installing packages that require C compiler is always a pain on Windows. May be I should look into conda and see if …